"...."
"...."
There was an awkward silence between Jane and Rudy, and it was all Nyxia's fault.
A few seconds later, Jane took a deep breath and shook her head as though she was trying to clear her mind from all the thoughts.
"What should we do now? We were here for the grandmaster, but it seems he is not here. And we don't know when he will come back," Jane asked curiously. "Do you want to wait till he returns?"
"No… " He sighed. "Actually… can we go somewhere else where no one would come? I need something from you. This room is in, but I don't want to be interrupted by the grandmaster when he comes back."
He asked sincerely.
"I know a place where no one would come…" Jane responded with a flushed face.
"...." Rudy raised his brows and wondered, 'Why is she blushing?'
Jane left the office, and Rudy followed her.
"Where are we going?" Rudy asked curiously as he walked into the hallway. "I think even if we go back to the royal palace, your room would be perfect."
"It's too late. I want to take you to 'that' place."
Jane started Running, and so did Rudy. They walked into several hallways, climbed long stairs, passed through different rooms, and reached a dead end.
"Uhh… please tell me you weren't pulling my leg," he groaned.
"No. we have already reached there."
Jane turned to the statue near the wall and made a minor cut on her finger. She climbed the statue and let the blood drip into the statue's mouth.
"What are you doing? Is it some kind of ritual?" Rudy asked curiously.
Jane landed beside Rudy and responded, "Something like that."
After a few seconds, the statue's eyes began glowing, and its body started shaking.
"Oh! It's a secret passage, am I right?" Rudy asked with a proud face as he figured it out without her help.
"Yes."
"Where does it lead to?"
"You will see."
The statue eventually stopped shaking, and it changed its pose. But suddenly, it was pulled into the floor by an unknown floor.
"..." Rudy looked at the hole on the floor and raised his brow with a curious expression on his face. "Wait a minute… we climbed so many stairs, and this is the top floor. So if the statue went down, does that mean…"
"Not exactly," Jane interjected. "The path is different. There is nothing below us, no room or hallway. This academy was designed that way, and so was this secret passage."
"Hmm. So where does this secret passage lead to?" Rudy asked again, unable to hide his curiosity.
Jane held Rudy's hand and said, "Jump."
Without asking any questions or even doubting Jane for a single second, Rudy jumped after Jane.
Rudy expected the space to be narrow or something like a tunnel, but it was surprisingly broad. Not only that, but he had a similar feeling he always had when he flew around.
Both RUdy and Jane could see in the dark, but Rudy could clearly see everything. There were inscriptions on the walls all around them, including symbols and even paintings.
After falling for around five minutes, they landed on the robust ground.
THUD! THUD!
As soon as they landed, the torches lit up in a red fir and illuminated the pathway leading to many chambers.
"What is this place?" Rudy asked as he carefully glanced around. He sniffed and said, "It smells weird too."
"This is a dungeon," Jane finally answered. "Or more like an ancient dungeon. I don't think anyone comes here nowadays or even knows about this place."
"Then how do you find this place?"
Jane began walking on one of the pathways, and Rudy quietly followed her while glancing around with an amused look on his face.
"I was simply wandering around the academy like always and always found it strange how some of the areas lead to dead ends for no reason. And how there were many rooms with no door to enter or exit," she stated.
'Not going to lie, if I was studying in an academy like this, I would also wander around to explore every corner of it,' Rudy uttered inwardly.
"So I went to the grand library and entered a restricted area where no one was allowed. I knew that one of the books there would surely have secrets written, or at least any clues. And I managed to find one after reading several books."
After a brief pause, she said, "Apparently, there are any other secret passages come here. However, there is no guarantee that they would end up in the same place even though they entered through the same secret passage."
"What do you mean?"
"This place constantly switches dimensions. So suppose, if we jump into the passage in the early morning, we will end up somewhere else. If we come in during the late morning— like right now- we would end up here," Jane explained awkwardly.
"Oh! I think I get it now. It's like a maze that changes depending on the time or whatever the mechanism is behind that," Rudy nodded, acting as though he understood everything.
"I think labyrinth would suit it more, but it's actually more like a dungeon," Jane commented.
"Those are fancy terms for me. I am talking about the labyrinth, by the way."
"Hurry up. We are almost there." Jane glanced around and stipped for a few seconds before walking again. "We were a few minutes late. If we had come 5 minutes early, we would be in a beautiful place. This is not where I wanted to bring you. But, oh well. This place is not bad either."
After walking for a few minutes, they reached an open space where a river was flowing, hitting the rocks and making splashing sounds once in a while.
Jane sat on the bank of the river with her legs in the water. She asked Rudy to sit beside her, but he sat behind her instead.
"...." Jane smiled and leaned on Rudy. She looked up at him and asked, "So, why did you want to be alone with me?"
"Uhh… I want you to teach me magic."
***
Extra chapter in a few hours.
Thanks, @Daoist_Culture, and @Harley_Ward, for the gift!
